“Call on the masses or call on yourself to help forge a better working world – a more gender inclusive world.”

Every year the day has an official theme and this year the theme fell under the title of be bold for change. It was a call to have women all over the world pledge to do something to help change.

Thank you to these girls for allowing me to photograph them and their message 🙂

I am not sure how many of you are from Ireland North or South but one uniting factor is the lack of Abortion laws which are in place in either country, I can only speak from the perspective as someone who has grown up in Northern Ireland so that is how I will base my writings. I have never previously shied away from talking about big topics because I am a firm believer that if you choose to put yourself out there on a social platform that you also should use your platform to discuss openly and honestly about topics that affect you.

I will however preface my opinion by saying that I understand that the vast majority of the population will have a total opposing opinion to my own and that it is ok as long as everyone is respectful of everyone else it is important to have open and challenging conversations as I believe that is how we make and affect change by being opening and honest in our discussions.

In Northern Ireland women can still face 14 years in prison for supplying or being found in possession of drugs which cause an abortion. 14 years , I can’t even let that sink in enough. In the mainland UK women have rights and access yet in Northern Ireland we are simply left with no rights and that scares me. I have to be responsible for my own body, sort my own birth control, work through periods and all the crap that comes along with that yet at the end of the day my reproductive rights are not my own.

Yesterday a peaceful protest in aid of Strike for Repeal was held at the front of Belfast city hall to show solidarity with our sisters in the South of Ireland who were also holding a rally to Repeal the 8th amendment which makes abortion illegal. in 2017 we have no rights over our own bodies which is why is it crucial that we still must go out and protest this law because our Government will not help us. I could write about all the issues with Northern Ireland and our government but I will save that for another day.

What you notice on days of protest is the spirit of everyone there, we are optimistic, and seeing others standing up for what you also believe in is so inspiring. It is my opinion that we need to legalise abortion in order to give it the protection that women deserve when they are having to make this decision. Abortion has always happened and will always happen so having the protection of the NHS or other clinics ensures that we do not have to listen to any more horror stories of women having to travel to the UK mainland in order to go through the procedure. Women are more than just a vessel to make children and our government happily gives more rights to that then they do to the women who have to go through it , not taking into consideration the physical or mental well being of the women.

At the protest I witnessed a man come up right into the face of a women standing with a banner and aggressively argue her that her banner which included the Uterus offended him. When she asked him to remove himself from her face as he was becoming more and more aggressive he turned to the crowd and screamed that we all must just be a bunch of lesbians. That is nothing else perfectly illustrates the mindsets and views that we still find ourselves regularly coming up against. Your opinion is invalid and worthy of being shut down because of a the outdated and naive angry lesbian feminist stereotype that time and time again is used to label us.

If I can make one crucial one out of all of this it is this, even if my opinion is not yours. You may not agree with what I stand for nor do you have to but I urge you that when you see an opportunity to take to the streets and count for something that you find the time to do so. It might be a rally or signing a petition, it might be sharing something on Facebook or another platform. it might be defending you opinion to a random person you encounter in life. Please be respectful and stay safe but above all your opinion is valid you are allowed to show how you feel and you do not have to sit back and take something because it has always been that way. You and your opinion are valid and worthy.

Last year I attended a huge march to protest the laws and this year this is the first but probably not the last rally or march that will be held. Our latest vote in Northern Ireland gives you a small glimmer of hope that we will cling to.

Big issues are not going away and we will not walk away and let the government have the rights to our bodies.

Catwalk season is upon us and as usual we are seeing what each of the designers has interpreted for the up and coming season. After taking a bit of wind down time after finishing my degree I am trying to get back into the swing of things in regards to keeping up with the new season trends and shapes, however it I have found with the last few seasons my interests are more drawn to what we are seeing on the street rather than the runway.

I was on Instagram a couple of months ago when I saw the news the my beloved Style.com was no more. For the entire time of my degree style.com was my biggest source for nearly all of the visual work I produced but there is now a new site Vogue Fashionwhich aims to work as the same concept site. I usually for each project look to the work from Tommy Tonfor my collections but today I have instead been viewing the work from Phil Oh.

I think my love of street style is that it takes the trends which are given to us by the designers but humanizes them. What I mean is that you can look at beautiful images from creative catwalk shows but you don’t see how it looks when someone dresses it into their own personal style, I love the mix and creation of new looks which sometimes don’t work and sometimes do.

The streets are still full of function vs style with trainers still being a wardrobe staple clashed against a more formal piece, seen here with this incredible oxblood number verses what I think are a pair of new balances. This is my favourite type of style when the wearer has fully integrated the catwalk to suite their own personal style.

All images used have been gathered from Tommy TonandPhil Oh over the last few months.

Image taken from her official instagram page you can find it HERE [then edited by me]

The 70s look is back in a massive way for autumn winter 2015 and I for one and totally in love with the look. Now I can put my love of this trend down to one person and one person alone, Miss Florence Welch is the style guru for all things 60s 70s and bohemian. Her look is so well put together but so effortless constantly that I can’t help but be inspired by every single outfit I see from her. I mean really I should be calling this post ways in which I am stealing Florence Welch’s style but anyways back to my point. The 1970s look was all over the catwalk and has exploded onto the high street in a big way this season with nearly every store including it in some shape or form with the A/W offerings.

I have had a look around some of the high-street plus-size retailers and put together some pieces which I think really encompass the trend, So starting with simply be who actually have a brilliant 70s edit page HERE on their website.

The coat is my stand out piece from their collection and I think really well priced at £65 however due to the nature of the weather in Northern Ireland i.e constant rain I don’t think I could possibly get the wear from it but layering it over any sort of outfit will just give that slightly more subtle nod to the 70s look, I can really see it working well over skinny jeans and a loose top. The bag and shoes are also both more statement pieces, I feel that if you are not 100% sure about rocking the 70s look head to toe then they are a perfect way to dip your toes into a trend to see if you can make it work with your own style.

A couple of my favorite pieces from New Look ( see the site HERE) include this amazing fringed waistcoat which comes in at just under £20 although they seem to be adding more pieces into their sale on a daily basis so keep an eye. I actually picked up something really similar to this in Primark last week for a night out I was having last weekend and I just loved how easy it was to throw on and it instantly changed what was just a plain black dress into a more 70s look. I also love this little suede skirt and I think alongside a light turtle neck jumper would make a great day time outfit.

If Florence says an all suede outfit is ok then I am totally all for it!

Evans Clothing ( find them HERE) also have a great selection of pieces, from tailored waistcoats to bell sleeves. The waistcoat pictured comes in a variety of on trend colours and prints as well as a staple black version all starting at £35, I recently picked up the berry colour for myself and already I have found a million ways to wear it. I think tailoring pieces can also work for the 70s look as they give a more night out feel to an outfit. The bootcut jeggings are a great update for Autumn is the are a great nod to the very popular flare without being overly flared if you are not sure about how the trend will work on you. I think the key point is that if you want to try the trend but are not sure whether or not it will work for you try it out using accessorys and shoes. You can pick up great pieces really inexpensively from the likes of Primark which is how I have worked the trends into my own wardrobe without investing too much money into pieces which probably wont be as on trend in Spring Summer.

ASOS curve is probably my favourite in terms of getting the trends right at the minute, just looking at the images of the gorgeous Gabby Gregg in the Curve campaign shoot you can totally tell just how inspired they were by the 70s trend. Full of suedes and knitted layers I definitely recommend you check out their site even to just inspire new outfit combinations.

So as I previously mentioned I have being try to incorporate the 70s look into my own wardrobe in the last few weeks as the weather has began to transition to cooler days and chilly nights. The outfit on the left is a new go to for me, the black dress is one I have had for about a year now from Evans which is probably my favourite LBD. The waistcoat is from Primark for £14, the necklace is also Primark at £5 and I think together they provide a great 70s update to any outfit for under £20. The Waistcoat on the right is also Evans clothing and I think that with this pussy-bow blouse ( also Evans but really old) they together become a great 1970s dressy look.

So my trip may have been in February, early February at that I am only just now getting around posting up my photos but that kind of explains how manic everything was post Paris, I went with my class for three days with the primary focus being on attending Premier Vision, a fashion exhibition where companies can sell to designers etc. We went on the student day which I think was Wednesday, if you are a student go on this day as you pay a reduced rate for entry. To sum up my trip as a whole would be difficult on one hand Paris is a beautiful city, exploring the streets for two days was my favourite part myself and the two girls I was exploring with decided not to use up time by going into the Louvre or the other indoor experiences but instead to invest our time in exploring the streets. We did of course visit the Eiffel Tower because I had never been and it was something to tick off my list but the queues where crazy so instead of going up the tower with further explored the city.

One thing that I wasn’t overall aware of before I went was just how poor a city Paris is and how many street scams there are around. One top tip I could give would be to keep your wits about you and do not fall into these tourist traps, I myself ended up having to give one man around fourteen euro because he had grabbed my wrist to make a bracelet onto my wrist and wouldn’t let go. It can be scary so just make sure that you are not travelling alone and that you do not stop or interact with people who you can see trying to pull a scam, I don’t want to put anyone off of visiting Paris and I myself would go back again I just wish I had done more research before I had gone to ensure that I wouldn’t fall for street scams. The scams where mainly in tourist hot spots, it was at Sacre Couer that the bracelet incident happened to me. Just make sure that you stay together and you will have a great time.

Transport is pretty easy in Paris we ended up using the Metro trains to get around, they work on the same principle as the London Underground and don’t take too long to get used to. It is a pretty inexpensive system and we ended up purchasing day tickets for around twenty euros which helped seeing as our accommodation was about an hour outside of Paris. Taxis are also pretty efficient in Paris however they can be quite expensive so I would only recommend them if you are travelling as a group of about 6 because they will charge for each piece of luggage and person after a certain number which would make a half an hour journey for six people about sixty euro but if you need to get back to your hotel late at night then I would recommend using the taxis. Luckily the night we decided to go onto the Champs Elysees we were heading back in time to make the last train to CDG airport which was close to our hotel.

The food in Paris ( excluding our hotel but that is the rant I am saving for the next section) was amazing, as a cheese obsessive I didn’t eat a meal for three days that didn’t include some form of cheese, the food we found was mostly inexpensive but we were just trying to budget. On the night we went to the Champs Elysees for dinner we found a nautical themed restaurant which despite the location cost us about twenty euro for dinner, that was however just a main course and drink but we had budgeted to have one “fancy dinner” during our time in Paris. What I will say that from the expierence at this particular restaurant it was clear that the waiters work almost against each other to bring in people and where ever you our sitting depends on which waiter gets the tips. This became obvious when the waiter who greeted us at the door encouraged us to wait for a table to empty whilst the whole back of the restaurant was empty, when it became clear this was for his benefit we insisted to sit at the back much to his protest. Again I am not trying to point out the flaws but I do feel like I want to create an honest account of my time so that you guys if you are wanting to go to Paris are totally aware of what to expect. A final note is that if you are over the legal drinking age and like wine then the cheap bottles of four euro rose are the way to go!

Accommodation, now my personal expierence was pretty terrible as far as accommodation went but that was pretty much entirely to blame for the fact that our trip was booked through our college and they went for cheap and close to the exhibition space instead of seeing that we would have two days that weren’t anything to do with the exhibition. We were staying roughly an hour from central Paris which was a total pain when it came to going out and about because you had to allow so much time to get anywhere. The hotel itself was more of an apartment complex and what we were told were 4 bedroom apartments where actually four bed apartments meaning a double bed which could be spilt into two singles and a double bed. We were sharing with friends but even so it was alot of deal with after a very stressful first day in the city.

One key element would be to go with a group of friends, I previously mentioned that the purpose of my trip was for one of my college classes so we went as a class. This to be honest was more of an issue because it meant travelling in a large group which is difficult if you are in a new city because trying to learn new travel systems is stressful enough without having to stick with twenty other people doing the same thing. we ended up getting people physically trapped in metro doors on day one because the stop time is very quick on the metro. We ended up spending the majority of the trip in much smaller groups after this because it meant we could explore without being restricted. One major recommendation I would have is when you are away creating a whatsapp group or some other messenger group which meant that we could all keep in touch even if we were all in different areas of the city and also to check in with our tutors in the evening to let them know we were back in the hotel.

To summarise this rather oversized post ( don’t worry the next post will be all my photos) I loved Paris but I do wish I was better planned with regards to working out exactly where to go on each day so minimise time wasting, however in regards to that one of the best pieces of advice we got was from the receptionist in our hotel who spent a good half an hour with us planning where to go and in what order which on our last day meant we got so much done because we had a system in place. Hope you guys found this post interesting/ helpful.

So I decided to keep things short and sweet today, I wanted to talk to you guys about my latest beauty obsession, natural collection. I am still remembering being about 14 and using my pocket money to buy natural collection eyeliners and eye shadows because at the time it was all I could afford. Fast forward several years and I cant remember exactly who but I watched a video where someone was praising natural collections range of brown toned lipsticks and not being one to want to invest big money into beauty trends I thought these were the perfect way to do it.

The four colours I have picked up are:

Heather- a very shimmery light brown which when applied is more subtle a brown hue than the other colours.

Biscuit- a your lips but better light browny nude pink shade

Cedar- a medium brown tone, great if you are a bit scared to go all out brown with your lip colour

Hazelnut- my personal favourite a very true orange tone brown shade which I love against my hair colour at the minute

Cedar on the lips

Overall I am really impressed with these lip colours for the bargain price of £1.99 each they are a great way to try brown lipsticks without having to pay alot of money incase you don’t like the look on you. They are not the most long lasting colours however I put one coat of Lipcote over the top and they then last at least 6 hours or more without any fade or change in colour. I would definitely recommend that if you are wanting to try a brown tone colour.

I am sure I mentioned at some point that in February just past I was heading to Paris for 3 days with my class to go and see Premier Vision, it was probably the most stressful/ crazy trips I have undertaken and it did take a while to recover, however I just today got my camera developed that I look with me. I bought one of Urban Outfitters fancy disposable cameras that usually cost £15 but I found one in the sale for a fiver back in January. I am not sure whether it was just because it was an old camera but the images did come out as I had hoped however I still really love the images for their somewhat overexposed light streaks and their double exposed images so I thought I would still share them. It puts my off investing in one of the disposables at full price because If I had spent £15 on it and it came out as mine did I would see myself complaining but as it was in the sale I don’t mind as much.

Le tour de Eiffel

Part 2

The Latin quarter

@ La Louvre

The shopping centre part of La Louvre

Palais du Louvre

Notre Dame

It defiantly puts me in the mood to do more disposable camera work, I think though the cost of developing each film puts me off so for the minute I just get my fix from looking at the work of my blogging buddy Megan over on VENT// Threads !

I plan on doing a couple of posts on my trip showing you guys the photos that I took, the next step is to use these images as inspiration for my next design project!

It was festive fashion fever as bloggers and media gathered to celebrate Christmas with DV8 Fashion. Proving a very successful evening, guests were welcomed with a fantastic drinks reception, courtesy of Lambrini, before exploring the fabulous collections DV8 have on offer this festive season. We were given free run of the shop with the lovely staff giving us any product information that we required. Of course being a magpie I went straight towards the sequins, there was a rail of items which where the buyers top picks. I loved the mix of party wear and everyday pieces that where on display. I will completely admit that I was totally unaware of just how many amazing brands that DV8 carry, everything from Irregular Choice to Levis with all styles catered for.

Once we had a few glasses of Lambrini and in my case one to many brownie bites in our system they told us about the styling competition they wanted to hold in store. Our brief was to create an outfit either mens’ or women’s and use products from around the store to create our looks. I immediately knew that I wanted to create a look which served a multitude of events. With my own work Christmas do being on Saturday night ( outfit post to follow) I wanted to keep that in mind because tis the season and most people will be heading to some sort of Christmas dinner event over the next few weeks. I also wanted an outfit which could also do a girls night out or a casual lunch date, After looking around the store I was immediately drawn to an incredible skirt which was worn by one of the lovely DV8 girls. It is a burgundy faux leather coated midi skirt ( alot of words right!) its very hard to describe and no picture will do it justice but just the colour and the shape is so perfect for the season and a complete steal at only £26 pounds!

So altogether this was what I came up with:

The inspiration for my is a grungy London cool vibes, As soon as I saw the skirt that started everything off for me. Of course I looked to Cara Delevinge as I could totally see her rocking this kind of outfit. I totally am still loving the 90s revival trend hence the inclusion of the bowler hat as a quirky fun detail. I found some images on-line and the fashion student in me was very excited to put together a quick mood board to show you guys my idea.

You can hopefully see the idea of the shape of the skirt but I promise in real life it is even more beautiful! I also was immediately drawn to and fell in love with this incredible sherling faux leather jacket. An investment piece at £60 but would be a great piece for all year round ( If you live in Northern Ireland were summer is about ten degrees warmer than winter)

Because the skirt is such a statement piece I wanted to keep the top half of the outfit really simple and found this lovely lace hem camisole that for the purpose of the image I tried to make it short and slightly cropped so the lace was a lovely break between the black and the skirt.

To go with the Christmas party vibes I added two statement necklaces slightly layered in gold and black tones to fit in with the rest of the look.

The shoes for me just top it all off. I was thinking party time completely with these shoes but I also would love to see the outfit with low top Dr Martens or mary janes courts if you are going to wear this look on a lunch date. To finish the look I topped it off with a quirky bowler and cute structured mini bag which was a Huge trend this season and perfect for the party night out essentials.

Back to the event itself I have to say a MASSIVE thank you to the amazing DV8 team for holding such a lovely event night and giving us a very kind giftcard at the end ( which BTW was spent on the night on a Christmas pressie for a family member!) I was attending the event with my classmate, friend and fellow blogger Emma from KookyMissMatchthis was her first event and I think the DV8 team definately set the bar really high for her!

I hope you guys are getting just as excited as I am about Christmas, I am starting to count down the days!

Like this:

So the final countdown is on and we are T minus 4 weeks until Christmas, I myself have only really started getting into the spirit this week after hearing the Salvation Army play in Victoria Square. I spent Saturday morning battling through the crowds to begin my Christmas shopping which I was pretty successful at. When I got home on Saturday after a crazy shift at work and finishing my shopping I was able to finally sit down and unwrap my Christmas present from the lovely people over at Argento.

I have always been a jewellery person, its just one of those things that I feel always makes the perfect present, you don’t have to always spend a complete fortune to find the perfect gift for a family member or friend. When the team at Argento asked me did I want to pick something I jumped at the chance to be able to show you guys what I felt was a great pick for a Christmas gift.

I decided to pick this beautiful sterling silver and turquoise ring. (link is to necklace ring isnt currently online) What I love most about this ring is that it is a statement piece whilst not being to much for everyday wear. Another great thing about this ring is that it is adjustable, I myself don’t have the skinniest of fingers and it is great to have the option wear it on whatever finger I want. I also think it would be a great layering piece to wear with all kinds of jewellery.

I also loved having a good flick through the magazine, I am sure you guys remember that I was lucky enough to help out on the campaign shoot a couple of months back and it was lovely to be able to see the finished product!

I hope you guys liked this little post if you guys want more Christmas gift ideas comment below

Back in around 2010 whilist going through a couple of fashion blogs, one of my favourite past-times, I stumbled across a closet interview from Stylelikeu. From that moment on I was completely hooked, I have probably watched every video or at least 99% of their videos by this point. I don’t think I could completely put into words what I gain from the videos but over the years I have primarily gained a sense of self-respect and self-love. The ethos of stylelikeu is the exploration of self and a move away from just accepting what society shows us e.g. Photoshop mass marketed churned out imagery. (SEE THEIR MISSION HERE)

Elisa and Lily are a mother daughter duo who set up stylelikeu in 2009 and have been championing self acceptance ever since. What really drew my to their work was the creation of the what’s underneath project. ( SEE MYLAS STORY HERE) it is a project to really get to the depths of what makes a person’s personal style and showing that it isn’t clothes that make a person rather the way in which they have developed throughout their lives that is the key.

One of the reasons that I chose Elisa and Lily as this weeks WCW ( women crush Wednesday) is that today saw the launch of their kickstarter project to raise funding to take the what’s underneath project globally and create an entire documentary about the movement. About 3 weeks ago I received an email from the SLU team asking if I wanted my testimonial be a part of the project, flashback about 3 months I emailed the SLU team just to express how much they have done for me without even realising it. I jumped at the chance to just to used in the wider context of the concept because I so passionately agree with their ethos. If you watch the video below I appear at about 4 minutes in!

What I hope others would learn from this website is that you dont have to conform to be beautiful, quoting one of my favourite closet confidential” Let your freak flag fly” we are all beautiful, we all have a purpose/ reason of existence and it is only through accepting ourselves that we can view the world as it is meant to be viewed.

I hope you guys like this quick post and I would seriously encourage you to head on over to their page and just watch a couple of the videos, I guarantee you will not regret it.

When I am beginning a project or even just stuck in a creative rut I try to spend a bit of time getting back my creative mojo, usually this involves alot of time spent trawling the internet becoming inspired by many different things. I found recently thatpinterest is amazing for this and I have been spending hours both on the website and on the app pinning everything from cute DIYs to what my future home is going to look like.

Somewhere that I always go to for inspiration is the style.com street style section which is a curation of work from Tommy Ton renound street style photographer. I love his work because it feels so personal and at the same time you know you are looking at a brief glimpse of someone’s day. I thought I would include a few of my recent favourites incase you, like me, are looking for that wee creative push this gloomy monday.